Rays' Walls: If Bonds is 'one of the best hitters ever, then why cheat?'

Tampa Bay Rays infielder Taylor Walls doesn't believe MLB's all-time home run king Barry Bonds deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

"He cheated! If not getting into the HOF is a consequence to cheating, then sorry bout it," Walls wrote on Twitter in response to a story by ESPN's Jeff Passan about why Bonds should be in Cooperstown. "Work your ass off and play the game the right way.

"If he is arguably one of the best hitters ever, then why cheat? It's not right to the guys that go about their business the right way."

Bonds, who finds out Tuesday if he's joining the Hall of Fame, is in his 10th and final year of eligibility. The 14-time All-Star needs to receive 75% of the vote from the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He's currently at 78.2% with almost half of the public ballots accounted for, but players have historically seen a drop in private votes.

The seven-time MVP received 61.8% of the vote in 2021. He's said in the past that entering Cooperstown isn't that important to him.

Bonds, who hit 762 homers across 22 seasons with the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates, has denied knowingly taking steroids and pleaded not guilty to four charges of lying to a grand jury in 2003. He was found guilty by a jury in 2011, but an appeals court overturned the conviction in 2015.